Packaging materials taking the form of laminated or heat sealed film layers defining numerous discrete pockets of air have been commonly used in the industry to reduce the stress of impacts upon items being transported. While these types of packaging materials can reduce the transmission of stresses or impacts received by a shipping container to an item carried within the shipping container, the spacing between the discrete pockets of air can prevent the packaging materials from providing a robust thermal barrier suitable for maintaining a temperature of the item being carried within the shipping container. For at least this reason, improvements in shipping materials that also provide excellent thermal insulation are highly desirable.